This week, just like the week before, has been a good one when it comes to all things martial.  I’ve found myself training 5 times a week again which is of course for me, where things need to be to make real progress. I’ve got a couple of runs in this week and next week intend to step to my game up to start turning my fitness up a notch.

I ended the week’s training earlier feeling a little burnt out but I guess that’s just part of getting used to training all week again. It’s nice because as soon as I start pushing myself I want more, and when I want more of what I already love doing I know good things are happening. In and out the ring we always have to work hard.

Just recently, I got thinking about fighting (being honest, I’m always thinking about fighting), I’ve found over time that Muay Thai training is a road of hills and valleys and peaks and troughs, of ups and downs and highs and lows. No matter what I feel is improving something else always needs to be worked on. I guess it’s the same in many other martial arts both competitive and non-competitive. I guess being honest, It’s the same in anything. Practice never makes perfect but persistence and determination are kings in the goal-setting game.

It’s not always easy to be able to translate what I learn in training and drills into what happens in sparring and fighting and I think I’ve become a little stuck in my ways in how I fight. I totally get that my last couple of fights have not really been at the level they should be by now (according to my standards which are probably tougher than yours) so I want to keep pushing myself in training to not only toughen up but to fight a little smarter.

I’m getting better at delivering pressure and I’m getting faster but I need to make sure I’m bringing more of my training into the ring. At the moment it feels like I’m getting better but I don’t always feel tidy. I rush in when I shouldn’t and still become a little bloody-minded when I should be countering more.

Looking back at my area title fight from 2013   I’d like to get to a vastly improved version of that determined aggressive version of me. At the time, People told me a different fighter was in that ring that evening. I think he’s still kicking around in here and he just needs a bit of a push to come out to play again. I believe in myself enough to know that if I put in the work good things happen.

I think I moved away from the amateur fighter a little while ago. I don’t think it’s arrogant of me to say that as I’ve got better since last time around. in order to keep on moving ahead, I need to make sure I train hard and remember that it’s a given that hills and valleys are always going to be out here on the road. Train hard and I’ll see you on it soon.